Tuesday, 31 May 2016

He was born in St. Petersburg,
Russia. From 1900 he was active in the
Bund in Minsk, and there he learned to speak and write Yiddish. He was arrested several times and exiled to
Siberia. After the Russian Revolution in
1917, he was active in the trade union movement. Subsequent information about him remains
unknown. He published correspondence
pieces and contributed to the editing of the underground newspaper of the Bund
in Minsk, Der minsker arbayter (The
Minsk worker) in 1900, six issues.

This was the adopted surname for
Novak, born in Vilna. She graduated from
a Tarbut high school in Vilna. She moved
to Israel in 1938. She received her B.
A. in philosophy and sociology in 1970 and her M. A. in history in 1975 from
the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. From
1940 she was active and in an administrative capacity in the Communist Party in
Israel and editor of its organ, Kol haam
(Voice of the people), in Tel Aviv. She
wrote theoretical, political, and socio-economic articles in Hebrew-language
books and pamphlets. She published as
well in: Morgn-frayhayt (Morning
freedom) in New York; Vokhnblat
(Weekly newspaper) in Toronto, and Naye
prese (New press) in Paris. Her
books in Yiddish: Der groyser poyerim-oyfshtand
in daytshland, forgeyer fun sotsyale revolutsyes (The great peasant
uprisings in Germany, forerunner of social revolutions) (Tel Aviv, 1972), 158
pp.; Vos iz forgekumen in mk״i?
(What happened to the Israeli Communist Party?) (Tel Aviv, 1973), 30 pp.; Sotsyalistisher internatsyonal un komintern,
1889-1923 (The Socialist International and the Comintern, 1889-1923) (Tel
Aviv: Perets Publ., 1975), 152 pp. She
died in Tel Aviv.

He was philologist and
bibliographer, born in the town of Shumsk, Ternopol district, Ukraine. He served in the Red Army from 1940 until the
end of WWII. He graduated from Leningrad
University in 1950 in Semitic languages and Hebrew studies. For several years thereafter he ran the
Semitics department of the Leningrad Open Library. In 1970 he successfully defended his
dissertation and became an academician in philological sciences; he published
it in 1974 in book form. He published a
number of articles in Sovetish heymland
(Soviet homeland). He was also the
author of Antdekte oytsres (Treasures
discovered), notices of literary research, vol. 1 (Moscow: Sovetski pisatel,
1981), 59 pp., vol. 2 (1985), 63 pp.

He was born in Ostrovtse
(Ostrowiec), Radom district, Poland. He was a well-known wedding entertainer. He authored poems for various occasions which
were sung as anonymous folksongs, among them: Dos shreklekhe unglik fun kishenev (The frightening sadness from
Kishinev) (Warsaw, 1903), 19 pp.; Dos lid
fun di yidishe karbones (The poem of the Jewish victims) (Warsaw), 16
pp. He would have been the author of the
folksongs: “Eyvel-yakhid” (Mourning for an only son), “A treyst” (A comfort), and
“Di levone” (The moon), as well as of various Purim songs, such as “Dos lid fun
di homen tashn” (The song of Hamen’s pockets [Homentaschen pastries]) (Warsaw,
1903), 8 pp.

He was born in Tshenstokhov (Częstochowa), Poland.He graduated from the Częstochowa Commercial School and
Wallenburg’s Technical High School in Warsaw.He studied mechanical engineering at the Universities of Berlin and
Paris, where he lived until the end of WWI.In early 1919 he returned to Poland and became an active leader in the
Bund.He lectured on literature and history
at the Częstochowa cultural office of the Jewish trade unions.Over the years 1927-1930 he directed the
artisans’ school at ORT (Association
for the Promotion of Skilled Trades) in Pyetrikov(Pyotrkow),
then later returned to Częstochowa.He was a
contributor, 1933-1939, to the Bund’s production cooperative in Warsaw.He began writing—in Arbeter tsaytung (Workers’ newspaper) in Częstochowa in
1919—articles on literature, and later he would run the weekly portion called
“Fun bikher-tish” (From the book table) in which he published reviews of books
of Yiddish and Polish literature.He
contributed as well to the weekly newspaper Der
proletaryer (The proletarian) in Częstochowa, Tshenstokhover veker (Częstochowa alarm), and Pyetrikover
veker (Pyotrkow alarm).He wrote
about Jewish character types in Polish literature in the following Warsaw
serials: Folks-tsaytung (People’s
newspaper), Shul un lebn (School and
life) in 1922; Unzer tsayt (Our time)
in 1927-1928; Foroys (Onward), Vokhnshrift far literatur (Weekly
writings for literature), Bikher
velt (Book world) in 1928 (“Vegn yidish-poylishe
iberzetsungen” [On Yiddish-Polish translations], with a partial bibliography of
Polish translations of Yiddish literature); Literarishe bleter (Literary leaves) in 1931
(chapters from a work on the topic of “the path of Jewish martyrs pressed in
Tsarist military service for many years”).Also: Yivo-bleter (Pages
from YIVO) (Vilna) 4 (1932), pp. 246-57 (“Yidn in y. i. krashevskis verk” [Jews
in the work of Józef Ignacy Kraszewski]), among others.In 1932 he was the editorial secretary for
the planned Tshenstokhover pinkes (Records of Częstochowa), for which he wrote a series
of articles entitled “Tsu der geshikhte fun yidn in tshenstokhov” (On the history of Jews in Częstochowa),
which was partially published in Tshenstokhover tsaytung (Częstochowa newspaper).His books include: Birgerlekher un
arbeter sport (Bourgeois and workers’ sports) (Częstochowa: Kultur, 1925),
44 pp.; Yidishe tipn in der poylisher
literatur (Jewish character types in Polish literature) (Warsaw, 1928), 227
pp.He was confined in the Warsaw
Ghetto, where he wrote “Historishe arbetn vegn der kultur-geshikhte fun yidn in
poyln in der ershte helft fun 19tn yorhundert” (Historical works on the
cultural history of Jews in Poland in the first half of the nineteenth century)
as well as a few works of fiction, such as: “In arbets-lager” (In a work camp),
a period piece published in Tsvishn lebn
un toyt (Between life and death) (Warsaw, 1955), pp. 24-30.[1]He was killed during the January Aktion
(1943) in the Warsaw Ghetto.He also
wrote under the pseudonyms: A. Viltsh, Kh. V., and others.

He was the younger brother of
Yikhezkl Viltshinski, born in Tshenstokhov (Częstochowa),
Poland. He studied in religious
elementary school, public school, later studying chemistry in Paris at the
Sorbonne. He lived in Germany over the
years 1922-1930. He was in Paris,
1930-1936, active there in the Bund and in Jewish trade unions. The founder of a theater studio for Jewish
workers, he adapted and translated into Yiddish plays from Polish, German, and
French. He was also the director of a
children’s theater. In 1936 he returned
to Częstochowa,
where he served as secretary of the local porters’ union. He published articles on theater and art in: Parizer veker (Parisian alarm) and Unzer shtime (Our voice) in Paris; Tshenstokhover veker (Częstochowa
alarm), Pyetrikover veker (Pyotrków alarm), and Arbeter-tsaytung (Workers’
newspaper) in Częstochowa; among others. Among
his pen names: A. V., A. Vil., and Tshun.
He died during the Warsaw Ghetto uprising in May 1943.

He was born in Hungary. In 1919 he moved to Argentina. His books include: Erets yehuda, a baytrag tsu der leyzung tsu der idn-frage (The land
of Judah, a contribution to the solution of the Jewish question) (Buenos Aires,
1939), 8 pp.; Naye vegn (New paths) (Buenos
Aires, 1943), 103 pp.; Hot argentinter
yidisher yishev take aza pomen? (Does the Argentinian Jewish community
really look like that?) (Buenos Aires: Saadya, 1955), 18 pp. He died in Jerusalem.

He was born in Droye (Druja, Druya),
Vilna district, into a merchant household.
He studied in religious elementary school and in a public school in
Droye, in the yeshiva of Rezhitse (Rēzekne), and later in the Rameyle circle in
Vilna. For one and one-half years he was
a Russian teacher in a village near Droye.
In 1904 he moved to the United States and lived in New York until 1909,
thereafter settling in Philadelphia. He
began writing in his youth, translating Lev Tolstoy’s Vemes gloybn iz beser? (Whose belief is better?) for the publisher
“A. Goselnik and A. Kotik.” He edited an
anthology entitled Der folks-fraynd
(The friend of the people) (Vilna, 1901), 33 pp. After moving to New York, he contributed work
(1904-1909) to Forverts (Forward), in
which, aside from articles, he published stories and translations from Russian
literature. Over the years 1909-1913, he
edited the Philadelphia edition of New York’s Varhayt (Truth), and he was news editor and music critic,
1914-1938, for Di idishe velt (The
Jewish world) in Philadelphia. His books
include translations of Tolstoy’s Vemes
gloybn iz beser? (Warsaw: 1901), 18 pp.; V. M. Garshin, Di gefalene froy (The fallen woman)
(Warsaw, 1901), 23 pp.; N. A. Rubakin, Der
zeyde tsayt (Grandfather time [original: Dedushka vremya]) (Warsaw, 1904), 80 pp.; and Rubakin, Di vunderlikhe erfindungen (The
wonderful inventions) (Warsaw, 1904), 32 pp.
He translated in abbreviated form the contents of the principal arias of
the operas: Carmen, Aida, Faust, and La Traviata (New
York, 1908), each 16 pp. Using the pen
name “Ete-Goldes zun” (Ete-Golde’s son), he translated Fransua
(François) by Guy de Maupassant. He died in Philadelphia.

He was born in Vilna. He studied in a Jewish workers’ evening
school. In 1921 he left for the Soviet
Union. In 1925 he graduated from Moscow’s
Western University. He worked in the
main office of the Yevsektsye (Jewish division). From 1926 he was editor of Der yidisher poyer (The Jewish farmer)
and later of Dos sotsyalistishe dorf
(The socialist village). He published
articles in Emes (Truth) and Shtern (Star). His work includes: Der dorfrat un di durkhoysike kolektivizatsye (The village council
and thorough collectivization) (Moscow-Minsk: Central Publ., 1920), 20 pp. He fought on the front during WWII, and after the war he settled in Moscow, where he published jittings, historical works, and memoirs for the journal Sovetish heymland (Soviet homeland).

Monday, 30 May 2016

He was born in Lodz, Poland, into a
well-to-do family. He graduated from a
Russian high school. He studied law at
the Universities of Warsaw and Rostov.
He was an officer in the Tsarist army at the Russo-German front during
WWI. He returned to Lodz in 1919, and
there he was a prominent lawyer until WWII.
He was an active leader in the Jewish Folkspartey (People’s party) in
Russia, vice-chairman of the association of Jewish front-fighters in Russia (together
with Joseph Trumpeldor and lawyer Gruzenberg).
Later, he was a member of the central committee of the Folkspartey and
vice-president of the central Jewish artisans’ association in Poland, a member
of the city council, and vice-president of the Jewish community in Lodz. He wrote initially for the Russian Jewish
press. From 1919 on, he published in
Yiddish in: Moment (Moment) and Dos folk (The people) in Warsaw; Lozher folksblat (Lodz people’s
newspaper) and the monthly Oyfboy
(Construction) in Lodz (1927-1930), of which he was also co-editor (with Noyekh
Prilucki, Lazar Kahan, and M. Balberishski); and Yivo-bleter (Pages from YIVO) (Vilna) 9 (1936), in which he
published a piece about a Russian book, a bibliography of the Yiddish press in
Russia. In September 1939, when the
Germans were nearing Lodz, he left for Warsaw, and he died there in the ghetto.

He was born in Vishegrad (Wyszogrod),
Plotsk district, Poland, into a commercial household. He was the brother-in-law of Professor Chaim
Weitzman. He studied in religious
elementary schools, a Polish middle school, and graduated from Wallenberg’s
Commercial School in Warsaw. From his
youth he was active in the Zionist movement.
Over the years 1909-1914, he lived in the land of Israel. He was a pioneer in the industrial development
of Haifa. In the summer of 1914 he
traveled to Poland as a community emissary, and due to the war he had to remain
in Warsaw under German occupation. He
was general secretary of the Zionist Organization in Poland and of its Warsaw
committee. He cofounded the Hashomer
Hatsair (Young guard) and Maccabi groups, among others. In 1919 he returned to Haifa and until his death
was one of the most prominent leaders in the settlement. He served as treasurer of Hebrew University
(1924-1929). He was a member of the management
of the Haganah (the Jewish paramilitary group), of the Jewish Archeological
Society, and other groups. He began
writing articles for Glos Zydowski
(Jewish voice), the first Zionist daily in Poland, in Warsaw in 1906, and he
was also its editor. At the same time,
he contributed to: Yudishes tageblat
(Jewish daily newspaper), edited by Sh. Y. Yatskan; later, Haynt (Today); Dos idishe
folk (The Jewish people); Unzer lebn
(Our life); and Hatsfira (The siren)—in
Warsaw; and to the Zionist press and periodicals in the Diaspora and in
Israel. He died in Jerusalem.

He was born in Belz (Bełz), Bessarabia. He was an external student in Zhitomir and
Odessa, and in 1920 he attended the Tarbut course of study in Kishinev, later
opening a school in Belz. In 1930 he
moved to Argentina. He was a teacher and
school director initially in an YIKO (Jewish Cultural Organization) colony of Baron Hirsch,
later in Buenos Aires. He debuted in
print with a one-act place entitled Dankbare
oremelayt (The thankful poor), which appeared in Penemer un penemlekh (Appearances, big
and small) in Buenos Aires in 1933. From
that point forward, he published stories, monologues, and one-act plays in: Idishe tsaytung (Jewish newspaper), Argentiner magazin (Argentinian magazine),
Idishe velt (Jewish world), Mizrakhi-shtime (Voice of Mizrachi), and
Far shul un heym (For school and home),
among others, in Buenos Aires. Among his
books: Di akht likhtlekh, khanike poeme
far shul kinder (The eight little candles, a Hanukkah poem for school
children) (Buenos Aires, 1944), 30 pp., a second edition appeared in 1945; Shloyme hameylekh un zayn lere, dos lebn un
shafn in ṭifn altertum fun klugstn fun ale mentshn (King Solomon and his teachings,
the life and work from high antiquity of the wisest of all men) (Buenos Aires,
1946), 56 pp. In 1949 he made aliya to
Israel. He worked as a state official in
the “Training Branch” of the office of the prime minister. He published his writings in Letste nayes (Latest news) in Tel Aviv.

He was born in Ukraine. Over the years 1928-1931, he was a member of
the presidium of the Institute for Jewish Culture in Ukraine and a member of
the editorial board of its publications. He was a lecturer in Jewish technical high
schools in Kharkov and Kiev. He
published articles of a sociological and demographic character, primarily in
connection with Jewish colonization, in Emes
(Truth) in Moscow, Shtern (Star) in
Kharkov-Kiev, and Oktyabr (October)
in Minsk, among others. He was the
author of books which were subsequently withdrawn from circulation by the
Soviet authorities, among them: Derazhne,
dos itstike idishe shtetl, monografye fun a idishe shtetl in ukraine
(Derazhnia, the contemporary Jewish town, monograph on a Jewish town in
Ukraine), with forewords by A. Larin and the author (Moscow-Leningrad, 1929),
119 pp.—a social cross-section of small Jewish towns in the Soviet Union, as
well as a picture of the spiritual crisis of the Jewish population there. Portions of this work, with a postface by the
editorial board and with a characterization by the author, were published in
the weekly Vokh (Week) 8-9 (1929) in
New York. He also wrote: Vegn altn un nayem shtetl (On the old
and the new [Jewish] town) (Kharkov, 1930), 30 pp.; Di dinamik fun der yidisher bafelkerung in ukraine far di yorn
1897-1926 (The dynamic of the Jewish population in Ukraine for the years
1897-1926), with an introduction by the “Presidium of the Institute for Jewish
Culture” which claims the importance of Vaytsnlit’s work (Kharkov, 1930), 190
pp., including a “list of 350 settlement points in the Ukrainian S.S.R.”
indicating population figures for 1897, 1920, 1923, and 1926; Agrarizatsye oder industryalitatsye, di vegn
tsu gezuntmakhn di yidishe oremshaft (Agrarianization or industrialization,
the ways to cure Jewish poverty) (Kharkov, 1930), 141 pp., with a foreword from
Motl Kiper and an introduction by the author who points out that “after the
Revolution the Jewish population in the old Jewish colonies decreased by 5%,
while the general village [population] grew overall by 50%,” and thus “one must
refuse to canvass on behalf of urban Jewish poverty so as to settle them on the
land.” In another place the author notes
that “there are no déclassé [elements] among the Jews who would be qualified
for Birobidzhan.” In early 1933
Vaytsblit was arrested for “leftism” and “nationalism,” and there has been no further
information about till the present day.

Sunday, 29 May 2016

He was born in Lask (Łask), near Lodz, Poland. He studied in religious primary school, a Tachkemoni
high school, and with private tutors.
While still a youth, he became a laborer. In 1928 he left Poland, lived for a time in
Berlin, Liège, Antwerp, and Brussels, and later settled in Paris, where until
the German occupation he worked in tailoring.
He served in the French army, 1939-1940, later spending four years in
German captivity and in concentration camps.
In the summer of 1945 he returned to Paris. He debuted in print with a story entitled “Di
lebedike statue’(The living statue)
which appeared in Nayer folksblat (New
people’s newspaper) in Lodz in 1927. He later
contributed to Naye prese (New press)
in Paris. He published stories, novels—such
as In lateynishn kvartal (In the Latin
Quarter), Ven der boym hot geblit
(When the tree bloomed), and Di letste
geto (The last ghetto)—sketches, tales, reportage pieces, and treatises
about literature and art, which appeared in: Naye prese, Unzer vort
(Our word), Parizer shriftn (Parisian
writings), Oyfsnay (Afresh), Unzer eynikeyt (Our unity), and Unzer shtime (Our voice)—in Paris; Loshn un lebn (Language and life), Yidishe shriftn (Yiddish writings), and Di idishe shtime (The Jewish voice)—in London;
Der tog (The day), Forverts (Forward), Tsukunft (Future), Yidishe
kultur (Jewish culture), and Unzer
tsayt (Our time)—in New York; Kol
yisrael (Voice of Israel), Yisroel-shtime
(Israel’s voice), Hatsofe (The
spectator)—in Israel; Ilustrirte
literarishe bleter (Illustrated literary leaves) in Buenos Aires; Dorem-afrike (South Africa) in
Johannesburg; Belgishe bleter
(Belgian pages) in Brussels; Unzer fraynd
(Our friend) in Brazil; Di post (The
mail) and Oyfboy (Construction) in
Melbourne; and elsewhere. He edited the
literary supplement to the weekly newspaper Arbeter-vort
(Workers’ word) in Paris (1954-1955), and he co-edited the literary anthology Parizer almanakh (Parisian almanac)
(1955). His books would include: Oysyes in blut, dertseylungen (Letters
in blood, stories), stories of destruction and pain (Paris, 1948), 271 pp.; A nayer tog geyt oyf, noveln (A new day
rises, stories) (Paris, 1952), 202 pp.; Der
bahaltener yid (The hidden Jew), stories from Jewish sorrow and
self-sacrifice (Paris, 1954), 191 pp.; Di letste geto (Buenos Aires: Yidbukh, 1961), 347 pp.; Der karshnboym, noveln (The cherry tree,
stories) (Paris, 1961), 59 pp.; Bal-shem-tov
motivn un andere dertseylungen (Themes of the Bal-Shem-Tov and others
stories) (Paris, 1977), 237 pp. He died
in Paris.

He was born in Novaia Ushitsa (Nova
Ushytsya), Podolia district, Ukraine. He
worked as a cantor in various cities in Russia of the past, and later, after
1914, he was a cantor in New York, Philadelphia, and elsewhere. He served as secretary of the American
Cantors’ Union. He was the author of such
cantorial works as: “Tefilat yehoshua” (Joshua’s prayer), “Shira ḥadasha” (New song), “Minḥat yehoshua” (Joshua
gift), and “Rinat yehoshua” (Joshua’s exultation). He published articles on Jewish liturgical
music in: Di idishe velt (The Jewish
world) in Philadelphia; Morgn-zhurnal
(Morning journal) and Hadoar (The
mail) in New York; Di shul- un
khazonim-velt (The synagogue and cantors’ world) in Warsaw; among
others. He chaired the editorial
collective for the anthology Khazones
(Cantorial art) (New York, 1937), 272 pp. in Yiddish and 112 pp. in English, in
which he published an article entitled “40 yor khazones in amerike” (Forty
years of the cantorial art in America).
He also composed melodies to the poetry of Yiddish writers, among them
Leyzer Shindler’s poems, to be found in his book Yidish un khsidish (Yiddish and Hassidic) (New York, 1940), many of
which were sung.

She was born in Zhelekhov (Żelichów), Poland, the daughter of Y. M.
Vaysenberg (Weissenberg) and the wife of Zelik Akselrod. From 1920 she was in Warsaw. In late 1939 she escaped to Byelorussia. After the war she returned to Poland, then
German, Switzerland, and six years in Israel.
In 1954 she moved to Canada. She
debuted in print in 1938 in both Haynt
(Today) and Folks-tsaytung (People’s
newspaper) in Warsaw. In 1940 she worked
for Byalistoker shtern (Bialystok
star). She wrote articles, memoirs,
stories, and poems in: Nayvelt (New
world), Lebns-fragn (Life issues), Goldene keyt (Golden chain), and Dos vort (The word)—in Tel Aviv; Tsukunft (Future), Svive (Environs), and Morgn-frayhayt
(Morning freedom)—in New York; Ilustrirte
literarishe bleter (Illustrated literary leaves)—in Buenos Aires; Folks-shtime (Voice of the people) in
Warsaw; and Keneder odler (Canadian
eagle) in Montreal. He edited Dos naye yidishe vort (The new Yiddish
word) in Winnepeg. Her long story “Di
vakh fun zibn” (The guard of seven) was translated into Hebrew as “Mishmar
hashiva,” Shevatim (Tribes) (Tel
Aviv, 1952/1953), pp. 177-235. She was
the author of: Y. m. vaysenberg, zayn
lebn un shafn, 1878-1938 (Y. M. Weissenberg, his life and work, 1878-1938)
(Montreal, 1986), 433 pp. She
died in Montreal.

He was born in Yelisavetgrad (Kirovohrad), southern Russia, to a father who worked
as a miller. He studied in religious
elementary school, later in a senior high school, and from 1884 he was studying
first in a technical college in Karlsruhe and later in Heidelberg, Germany,
where in 1890 he graduated from the medical faculty as a doctor. He practiced medicine for a certain amount of
time thereafter in his hometown, but then turned all of his attentions to the
study of Jewish anthropology and ethnography, and to that end he traveled,
1908-1911, to Turkey, Egypt, Israel, Syria, Turkestan, the Caucasus, and the
Crimea. Beginning in 1895 he published
in Russian and German periodicals a series of anthropological and ethnographic
studies, such as [titles translated into English]: “Jewish Folksongs and Jewish
Sayings,” “Children’s Joy and Children’s Suffering among Jews in Southern
Russia,” “Dishes and Pastries of the Jews of Southern Russia,” “Illness and
Death among the Jews of Southern Russia,” “The Karaites in Crimea,” “The Jewish
Character,” “The Land of Israel and the Customs and Beliefs of Contemporary
Jews,” “The Yemenite Jews,” “Old Jewish Gravestones in Crimea,” “Jewish Art,”
“The Problem of the Jewish Race,” “Jews in the Caucasus,” “Armenians and Jews,”
“Jews of Spanish Origin,” “The Surnames of the Karaites and Crimean Jews,” “The
Jews of Turkestan,” “The Kurdestan Jews,” and many others. His published books include: Die südrussischen Juden, eine
anthropometrische Studie mit Berücksichtigung der allgemeinen
Entwickelungsgesetze (The southern Russian Jews, an anthropometric study
with regard to the general laws of development) (Braunschweig, 1895), 126 pp.,
in German; Das Volkstum der Menschen
(The national character of people) (Stuttgart, 1911), in German. He wrote nothing in Yiddish himself. The following were translated into Yiddish
from manuscripts of his: “Di rusishe yidn in der tsayt fun milkhome un
revolutsye” (Russian Jews at the time of war and revolution), Bleter far yidisher demografye, statistik un
ekonomye (Jewish demography, statistics, and economics), vol. 1 (Vilna)
(1923), pp. 17-20; “Khasenes bay yidn in yelisavetgrad far di yorn 1901-1924”
(Weddings among Jewish in Yelisavetgrad for the years, 1901-1924), Bleter far yidisher demografye, statistik un
ekonomye, vol. 3 (1925), pp. 78-80; “Di tsunemenishn fun di yidn in yelisavetgrader
krayz” (The nicknames for Jews in the Yelisavetgrad region), in Landoy bukh (Landoy volume),
philological writings, vol. 1 (Vilna, 1926), pp. 79-90; “Di yidishe
familyen-nemen in ukraine” (Jewish family names in Ukraine), Filologishe shriftn (Philological
writings) 3 (1929), pp. 313-66, in Vilna.
He died in Yelisavetgrad.

He was born
in Zhelekhov (Żelichów), Shedlets (Siedlce) district, Poland, to a father who
worked as a tanner. He studied in
religious primary schools. From his
earliest youth, he was a laborer, initially twisting rope and later as a box
maker. He was already known in his town
while quite young as the author of songs mocking the rich. He had a difficult life from childhood on and
suffered from want all the years of his life.
He began writing in 1904 when he published the stories “Der kitel” (The
white robe [worn by men on the High Holidays]) and “Dor hoylekh vedor bo” (A
generation goes and a generation comes) in Y. L. Perets’s revived Yudishe biblyotek (Jewish
library)—Perets became a close friend of Weissenberg’s; these stories drew the
attention of literary circles in Warsaw, and he would later join the group Virklekhkeyt
(Reality) there in 1925. His story “Di
meshugener in dorf” (The crazy man in the village)—initially published in Avrom
Reyzen’s Dos yudishe vort (The
Yiddish word) in Cracow (1905); later published separately in Vilna by “Di
velt” (The world) in 1907, 24 pp.; and included in the volume Kine un tayve (Jealousy and lust) in
Warsaw (1911)—had even greater success.
But a huge impression was made by his novella Shtender (The pulpit)—first published as a supplement to the daily
newspaper Der veg (The way) in Warsaw
(1906), later separately in Warsaw by “Progres” (Progress) in 1910, 76 pp.; and
then it was republished in Warsaw in 1909 and in 1911 and in Moscow in 1933,
189 pp.; later still it was included in Weissenberg’s Geklibene shriftn (Selected writings) (Warsaw, 1950). He took the material for this work—as for
many other works of his—from the surroundings in which he was raised. Numerous leather workers had lived in Żelichów
for generations, and they stamped their seal on all life there. Weissenberg brought this group of people to
the fore in his work A shtetl (A town)
with the background of the events of the revolutionary year of 1905, when the
old way of life was broken and new types pf personages were emerging on his
canvas. Perets, to whom he brought the
manuscript, marked it as a great event in Yiddish literature. He then left his work as a tanner and turned
his full attention to writing. He
published in a variety of Yiddish newspapers, magazine, and anthologies, and he
wrote his best work there until WWI. His
stories from that era excelled in their flexible energy and simultaneously
possessed an exquisitely profound, hidden lyricism. And, thus, he wrote his well-known stories at
the time, among them: “A tate mit bonim” (A father and sons), initially published
in Di literarishe monatshriftn (Monthly
literary writings) in Vilna (1908); “Khanele” (Little Hannah); “A vald-meydl”
(A forest girl); “A shlekhte froy” (An evil woman). Among his books written at this time: Shriftn (Writings), three short volumes
(Warsaw: Velt-biblyotek, 1909/1910); Kine
un tayve un andere dertseylungen (“Jealousy and lust” and others stories) (Warsaw:
Progress, 1911), 174 pp.; Geklibene
shriftn, one volume (Vilna: Shreberk, 1911), 222 pp.; Ertseylungen un bilder (Stories and images) (Warsaw: A. Gitlin,
1912), 160 pp.; and Shriftn (Warsaw:
Bikher far ale, 1914), 156 pp. In these
volumes, aside from those already noted, he included the following stories: “A
pomnik” (A monument), “Di bobeshis ophitn” (Grandma’s observance), “Khayim-arn”
(Chaim-Aron), “A ganeyve” (A thievery), “Der lerer grinshteyn” (Teacher
Grinshteyn), “Kleydele” (The little dress), “Der oremer yung” (The poor
youngster), “Zumer-tog” (Summer day), “Khoyv” (Duty), “Fun fayer un vaser”
(From fire and water), “A dertrunkener” (The drowned one), “Tsum eydem af kest”
(Before boarding with the in-laws), “Der bal-tshuve” (The penitent), “Nit
bashert” (Undestined), “Dray shvesterlekh” (The little sisters), “In der shtil”
(Quietly), and “Shmerl un berl” (Shmerl and Berl), among others; the dramatic
work, Kasper (Casper), a play in
three acts, which was published separately (Warsaw: Progres, 1910), 85 pp.—appeared
earlier in Di yugend shtime (The
voice of youth); Kine un tayve, a
drama in three acts—published earlier in Teater-velt
(Theater world) 6.17 (1908-1909); and his first dramatic works, Dvorele and R. yoyel (Joel), in which he evinced significant dramatic talent—Bal-Makhshoves
predicted at the time that Weissenberg would have a great career as a
playwright.

With these
writings—which were subsequently republished at various times—the first phase
of Weissenberg’s work came to a close with the advent of WWI. The second phase began after Perets’s death,
which was for Weissenberg personally an immense moral loss. He believed that the standing of Yiddish
literature had declined, while journalism had begun to assume the place of
honor. He first published several
pamphlets with the goal of “making the Yiddish press distinctive and creating a
distinctive tribune for artists.” At
that time he began to publish his Yudishe
zamlbikher (Yiddish anthologies), which he first brought out together with Dr.
B. Tsipor (four issues) (Warsaw, 1918-1919) and later by himself (Warsaw,
1920). Young writers assembled around
him, and he highlighted and published their works in these “anthologies.” He published his own “In tog fun gerikht” (On
the day of judgment) here—a political satire on Polish-Jewish relations in
verse—as well as critical and current-events articles. He also brought out the polemical magazines: Der shtrom (The current), a weekly for
literature, criticism, theater, film, humor, and satire (Warsaw, 1924), five
numbers; Kritik (Critic) with Y.
Rapaport and Inzer hofenung (Our
hope) in Warsaw (1932). In his
magazines, he featured such important writers as: Oyzer Varshavski, Y. M. Papernikov,
Yekhiel Lerer, and Shimen Horontshik. Horontshik’s
first novel included—thanks to Weissenberg—a chapter concerned with the Warsaw
literary scene which at the time aroused consider bad blood and brought about
Weissenberg’s provisional withdrawal from membership in the literary
association. His periodicals also,
however, became a platform to combat the “Lithuanians,” whom he accused of
seizing important positions in Warsaw’s Jewish community and literary world
[that is, in the heart of the Polish Yiddish world—JAF]. He even tried to impose on his writers a
distinctive [Polish] Yiddish spelling. Belonging
to this era was his novel Der moderner
shed (The modern demon) (Warsaw, 1930), 270 pp., new edition (Warsaw, 1938)—a
work that depicted the Yiddish literary scene in Warsaw. While he was devoting his best efforts to community
quarrels, he did not, nonetheless, cease writing. And, the stories from the first period of his
work were regularly reprinted as well.
Subsequent editions of his work in book form include: A shlekhte froy un andere ertseylungen
(An evil woman and others stories) (Warsaw: Di tsayt, 1921), 160 pp.; Geklibene verk (Selected works), volumes
1-5 (Warsaw, 1930-1931; Kiev, 1930); Geklibene
verk, volume 6 (Goyroles vos lakht
[Fates that laugh]) (Warsaw, 1930-1931). Around 1930 he completed his autobiographical
novel, Der ibergang fun kindheyt tsu
dervaksung, roman (The passage from childhood to adolescence, a novel)
(Warsaw: Kultur-lige, 1930), 215 pp. In
1932 he published the pamphlets: Kunst un
subyektivitet (Art and subjectivity) and Di velt a troym (The world, a dream). He also wrote a work that was supposed to appear
in ten volumes, entitled In der tifer
eybikeyt (In deep eternity), of which only one volume was published
(Warsaw, 1936), 32 pp., packed with mysterious allusions. In 1938 he published a booklet entitled Far yugnt (For youth) in Warsaw (56
pp.). Prior to his death, he prepared a
volume, Dertseylungen fun mayn ershtn period
shraybn (Stories from my first period of writing), which appeared in print
at the time of his shloyshim (thirty-day
mark following his death) (Warsaw, 1938), 167 pp. The following works were published
posthumously: Geklibene verk (New
York: L. M. Shtayn-folks-biblyotek, 1954), 311 pp.; Geklibene shriftn (Warsaw: Yidish bukh, 1950), 107 pp., with an
introduction by D. Sfard; Geklibene verk,
vol. 1 (Chicago, 1959), 355 pp., with a foreword by Weissenberg’s daughter Pearl
who was living in Canada. He also
translated into Yiddish Toyznt un eyn
nakht (1001 [Arabian] nights).
Portions of his work have been translated into Hebrew, English, Polish,
Russian, German, French, and Spanish. In
the 1930s the Warsaw community awarded him the first prize for literature, but
he refused to accept it. He spent his
entire life in Warsaw and Lodz, with the exception of his visits to Ukraine after
WWI and, to promote his publications, to the United States in 1923. He died in Legionowo, near Warsaw. His funeral was arranged by the Warsaw Jewish
community and was turned into a popular demonstration. After WWII a stone was place at his grave at
the Gensia Cemetery, at the expense of the Polish state.

Friday, 27 May 2016

He was born in Russia. In 1913 he moved to Canada. He graduated from McGill University in
Montreal in 1920, and there he entered a four-year course in pedagogy. He was a teacher at and director of the first
Jewish public school in Montreal. He
lectured at the Jewish teachers’ seminary and in Hebrew at George Williams College
in Montreal. He was a member of the
Canadian Jewish Congress and of the YIVO Committee in Canada. He was an essayist, pedagogue, and
translator. He wrote for the most part
on pedagogical issues in the Jewish, Hebrew, and English-language press. His work appeared in: Keneder odler (Canadian eagle) in Montreal; the anthology Hemshekh (Continuation) in 1927; Der idisher arbeyter (The Jewish worker)
and Idisher kemfer (Jewish fighter),
among others, in New York. He compiled
the literary reader Dos vort (The
word) (New York, 1931), 2 volumes, 900 pp., second improved edition (New York,
1938). He edited and included his own
survey of over thirty years of educational work in Canada in The People’s Schools of Montreal: Thirtieth Anniversary,
1914-1944, a Survey (Montreal, 1944), 19 pp. Yiddish and 20 pp.
English. Together with M. Khosid, he
compiled Y. Y. Segal’s Letste lider
(Final poems) (Montreal, 1955), 332 pp.
He also published a book entitled Mesaprim
amerikayim (American novellas) (Tel Aviv: M. Nyuman, 1956), 545 pp., an
anthology of the work of twenty-eight American prose artists whom he himself
translated into Hebrew, including his own introduction to American
literature. In 1961 there was published
in Montreal: Shloyme vaysman-bukh
(Shloyme Vaysman volume), 384 pp. in Yiddish, 80 pp. in English. He died in Montreal.

He was born in Odessa, southern
Russia, to a father who was a ritual slaughterer. Until age thirteen he studied in a Russian
public school, while at the same time in the Odessa yeshiva. He later studied as well in the Volozhin and
Kishinev yeshivas. He was orphaned on
his father’s side in his youth and had to discontinue his studies to feed his
family. For a time he worked as a
copyist for a lawyer, later as a bookbinder.
In 1877 he became a prompter for A. Goldfaden’s Yiddish theater. At that time he began to write, and his first
effort was a rewriting of the Hebrew novel Tsadek
venosi (Saintly man and prince) into a drama in five acts entitled Di nekome (The revenge) which was later
staged under the title Don yitskhok
abarbanel (Don Isaac Abarbanel). In
1882 he moved to the United States, and there over the course of thirty-eight
years he worked as a prompter in the most prominent of Yiddish theaters. He was the first president of the actors’
union and founder of the “Jewish Theatrical Alliance.” He was also the author of a series of his own
and adapted plays, such as: Moyshe rabeyne
oder kries yam-suf (Our teacher Moses, or the parting of the Sea of Reeds);
Di gemakhte meshugene (The contrived
crazy woman); Amnon un tamar (Amnon
and Tamar), dramatized following Mapu’s novel Aaves tsien (Love of Zion); Sore
oder tsurik fun sing-sing (Sarah or the return from Sing-Sing); Lebn far lebn (Life for life); Der rusish-terkisher krig (The
Russo-Turkish war); A mentsh mit tsvey
penemer (A man with two faces); Der
goylem oder man un vayb (The golem, or man and wife), following Zhenit'ba Belugina (Belugin’s marriage) by Alexander
Ostrovsky; Di sheyne yudin (The
pretty Jewish girls), translated from Shakespeare’s Shylock [= The Merchant of
Venice]. He also published stories
in: Nyu yorker ilustrirte tsaytung
(New York illustrated newspaper) in 1888; Nyu
yorker folkstsaytung (New York people’s newspaper) in 1888; Folks-advokat (Advocate for the people) for
which he also translated stories from Hebrew literature; Teater-blat (Theater newspaper) in Philadelphia in 1898; and
elsewhere. He placed chapters from his “Zikhroynes
vegn yidishn teater” (Memoirs of the Yiddish theater) in: Yidishes tageblat (Jewish daily newspaper) and Morgn-zhurnal (Morning journal) in New York. He was a member of the editorial collective for
Z. Zilbertsvayg’s handbook of the Yiddish theater. He died in New York. His daughter, Dora Vaysman [Weissman, 1881-1974],
assumed an important place on the Yiddish stage. Her husband, Anshel Shor [1871-1942], was a
theatrical director and a playwright.

He was born in a village near Foltichen
(Fălticeni),
Romania, to a father who made rustic sandals.
He studied in a public school of the Romanian Jewish community, in a
state high school, and in a teachers’ seminary.
He began writing, in Bucharest, poems and stories drawn from Jewish life,
and they were published in the Romanian weekly Egalitatea (Equality). In
1917 he began to write poems in Yiddish (some of these were published in
Romanized form in Egalitatea). He served until 1919 in the Romanian army. He settled afterward in Kishinev, where he
worked as a teacher of Romanian language, literature, and history in the local
Tarbut high school. At the same he
published poetry in the newspapers, Besaraber
lebn (Bessarabian life) and Der id
(The Jew). He moved to the United States
in 1920 and worked as a teacher in a Workmen’s Circle school and later in
schools of the International Workers’ Order.
He published poems and stories in Frayhayt
(Freedom) in New York, and he wrote a great deal for children. Among his books: Di balade fun a “kinder-kemp” (Ballad of a children’s camp), with a
foreword by Yankev Levin, illustrated by Y. Zeldin, Moyshe Zolotaryov, Yehude
Gotberg, and Nokhum Vaysman (New York, 1926), 69 pp.; Lidelekh mayne (My little poems), illustrated (New York, 1940), 39
pp.; Dos meydl mitn roytn kleydele
(The girl with the little red dress), illustrated (New York, 1940), 40 pp.; Di balade fun meyer Levin (The ballad of
Meyer Levin), illustrated (New York, 1940), 80 pp.; Geklibene lider (Selected poems) (New York, 1950), 190 pp.

He was born in Semyatitsh (Siemiatycze),
Grodno district, Byelorussia, into a poor family. He studied in religious elementary school and
synagogue study hall. At age twelve he
became a worker in a cigarette-paper factory, later joining the Bund and being
arrested. He moved to the United States
in 1913 and worked in a barbershop in Chicago.
From 1922 he was living in Los Angeles, California. He published his first correspondence piece
in Folkstsaytung (People’s newspaper)
in Vilna (1906). Subsequently, in
America, he contributed (using the pseudonym “Ben-Khayim”) articles, stories,
and tales to: Di yidishe arbayter velt
(The Jewish worker’s world) and Der
idisher kuryer (The Jewish courier) in Chicago; Di tsayt (The times), Der
teglekher shtern (The daily star), Zunland
(Sun land), Kalifornyer idishe shtime
(California Jewish voice), Folks-tsaytung
(People’s newspaper), Idisher byuletin
(Jewish bulletin), and Idisher biznesman
(Jewish businessman)—in Los Angeles; Idisher
zhurnal (Jewish journal) in Toronto; Fraye
arbeter shtime (Free voice of labor), Kinder-zhurnal
(Children’s magazine), Yidishe shprakh
(Yiddish language), Nyu yorker vokhblat
(New York weekly newspaper), Tog
(Day), Tog-morgn zhurnal (Day morning
journal), and Byalistoker shtime
(Voice of Bialystok)—in New York; and Heymish
(Familiar) in Tel Aviv. He authored the
following books: Fun brisk biz semyatitsh
(From Brisk [Brest] to Siemiatycze) (Ontario, California, 1952), 136 pp.; Fun nekhtn un haynt (Of yesterday and
today) (Ontario, 1955), 156 pp., a volume of memoirs about the first Russian
Revolution (1905) and about the Jewish labor movement and the people who were
active on the Jewish street at that time.
In the latter book he included some of his literary work and several of
his articles about Yiddish writers. He
also wrote: A halber yorhundert in
amerike (A half-century in America) (Tel Aviv: Perets Publ., 1960), 212
pp. He died in Los Angeles.

He was born in Torne (Tarnov,
Tarnów), eastern Galicia. He studied in
Brody, Lemberg, and Vienna. He owned a
lithography shop. He began writing
Hebrew poetry in 1846 and published some of his work in subsequent years in his
own journal, Magid mishne (Lemberg,
1872). He published in Hebrew a
collection of proverbs and aphorisms from the Talmud and Midrash in rhymed
verses, humorous poetry, and epigrams. He
brought out and edited the Yiddish weekly Viener
yudishe tsaytung (Viennese Jewish newspaper), 1874-1877, in which he
published in his own translation of portions of his life-work, Divre ḥakhamim veḥidotam
(Words of the sages and their intricacies) (Vienna, 1889-1892), six volumes,
each 80 pp. He also published under the
pen name Moaḥ. He was run over by a tramway and died in
Vienna.

Thursday, 26 May 2016

He was born in Zhurin (Zurin),
Podolia district, Ukraine. After 1913,
when his father departed for the United States, he was raised by his grandfather
in Miastovka. He studied in religious elementary
school, graduating from a “Bet-sefer amami” (Jewish public school). In 1921 he moved to the United States, for a
time studied in Trenton, New Jersey, later settling in New York. He debuted in print in 1926 with a translation
of a poem by S. Yesenin in Kamf (Struggle)
in Canada, and from that point in time on he contributed poetry and articles in
many different periodical publications, principal among them: Inzikh (Introspective), Kern (Turn), and Epokhe (Epoch)—all in New York.
He edited: Inzikh (1934-1936),
for three months he was part of a rotating editorial board with B. Alkvit,
Yankev Glatshteyn, and A. Leyeles; Epokhe,
a monthly in New York (1943-1947), with L. Faynberg. His books include: Yung-groz (Young grass), poems (New York, 1928), 62 pp.; and Paraleln (Parallels), poems (New York,
1931), 62 pp.

He was born in Bukovina. He received both a Jewish and a general
education. In 1906 he studied at the technical
senior high school in Vienna. At the
same time, he was an active Jewish cultural leader. He chaired the Viennese Jewish student association,
“Jewish culture.” He was a member of the
organizing committee for the Czernowitz Yiddish Language Conference in 1908,
and he opened the preconference on August 29.
He lived in Vienna until the early years of the twentieth century and
later traveled to a number of countries.
He published articles on Yiddish literature in Lemberger togblat (Lemberg daily newspaper), Moyshe Frostig’s Kalenders (Calendars), Der yudisher arbayter (The Jewish
worker), and Avrom Reyzen’s Eyropeishe
literatur (European literature).
Further information about him remains unknown.

He was born in Radom, Poland, and
studied there in the religious elementary school. In 1916, under Austrian occupation, he went
to work in Vienna. Later, during the
German occupation, he was a railway official in Radom. He served on the city council and was one of
the Jewish community leaders elected by the left Labor Zionists. During WWII, he and his wife and daughter
were deported to Komi in Soviet Russia.
He returned to Poland in 1946. In
1949 he moved with his family to the state of Israel. He began writing—on Jewish folklore—in Radom
in 1926. He contributed to such local
publications as: Naye vintn (New
winds), Shtaplen (Rungs), Tribune (Tribune), and Radomer-keltser lebn (Life in Radom and
Kielce). He edited the local monthly
journal Dos literarishe radom
(Literary Radom), and he contributed to a series of YIVO publications. He published articles and treatises in: Moment (Moment), Hoyzfraynd (House friend), Arbeter-tsaytung
(Workers’ newspaper), Yidish far ale
(Yiddish for everyone), and Literarishe
bleter (Literary leaves)—all in Warsaw; the first volume of Yidisher folklor (Jewish folklore)
(Warsaw, 1938); Oyfsnay (Afresh) and Tsukunft (Future) in New York; Zidamerike (South America) in Buenos
Aires; and the anthology Tshile
(Chile) in Santiago. He published
children’s stories in: Kinder-fraynd
(Children’s friend) and Kinder-velt
(Children’s world) in Warsaw; Grininke
beymelekh (Little green trees) in Vilna; and Kinder-zhurnal (Children magazine) in New York; among others. After WWII he placed work in: Dos naye lebn (The new life), Yidishe shriftn (Yiddish writings), and Arbeter-tsaytung—in Warsaw-Lodz; Arbeter-vort (Workers’ word), Tsienistishe shtime (Zionist voice) in
Paris; Naye velt (New world) and Letste nayes (Latest news) in Tel Aviv;
and Dos yidishe vort (The Yiddish
word) in Chile; as well as elsewhere. He
was a regular contributor to the monthly Lebns-fragn
(Life issues), brought out by the Bund in Tel Aviv, for over thirty years, serving
as editor for literature and art. He
assisted in the preparation for publication of E. Faynzilberg’s book, Af di khurves fun mayn heym, khurbn shedlets
(On the destruction of my home, the Holocaust in Shedlets) (Tel Aviv,
1952). He also edited: In shotn fun treblinke (In the shadow of
Treblinka) by Sh. Polyakevitsh (Polakiewicz) (Tel Aviv, 1957), 167 pp.; Pinkes sokhatshev (Records of Sokhatshev
[Sochaczew]) (Jerusalem, 1962), 843 pp.; Tsu a nay lebn (Toward a new life) by Tsvi
Etkes (Tel Aviv, 1965), 260 pp.; In
undzere teg (In our days) by Chawa Slucka-Kestin (Tel Aviv, 1966), 374
pp. His own books include: Vegn mazl un shlimazl (On good luck and
bad) (Radom: Aleyn, 1938), 64 pp.; Radomer
folklor (Radom folklore) (Radom: Tsuker, 1939); Pen profiln, eseyen (Pen profiles, essays) (Tel Aviv: Fraynd,
1978), 240 pp.; Yisroel kinstler, eseyen
(Israeli artists, essays) (Tel Aviv: Fraynd, 1979), 240 pp. He used such pen names as: Hol, Olburg,
Mangvays, B. Mandel, and Dr. L. Valter.
He died in Ramat Gan, Israel.